Board of Aldermen Page 9
September 27, 2016
Donchess. So many of my fellow friends and colleagues have already eloquently put many of the points
that | wanted to make tonight but I’d like to emphasize that the United Way’s support for participating in
One Greater Nashua and the step you would be taking as a municipality in joining the Welcoming City
and Counties Initiative. We are an organization of two staff people with dozens of Board members and
more than dozens of volunteers and hundreds of donors that work and fight every day for the health,
education, and economic mobility of every person in every community in the eleven communities that
surround Nashua. We have recognized the value of partnering with the Welcoming America Initiative to
address concerns about social inclusion and integration which is the first step in creating opportunities to
break down social barriers that help hold people back from achieving their best potential. We are not a
partisan organization. We see our work in not only helping the people who get to improve their lives
through the United Way’s work but also the communities become stronger and we view this Welcoming
Initiative from the municipality standpoint as an opportunity for us to put a stake in the ground that says
we are the kind of community that is taking this work seriously and we know that corporations will be
looking to that short list of cities that sign on to the Welcoming Initiative to place their future businesses
and we will, as service providers, continue to work to make sure that our residents are ready to fill those
jobs when they come. We are hoping that you will strongly consider partnering with us, the service
provider community and moving forward in this step to make our community the best that it can be.
Ms. Sandi Cotter, Ascentria Care Alliance Services for New Americans
We are one of the two agencies that does refugee resettlement here in Nashua. Nobody wants to be a
refugee. The people that we work with came from countries where they were born, raised families, built
homes, had careers and owned their own businesses. Because of the outcome of a political election, a
change in religious leadership or military violence, they were forced to leave those homes. They
appreciate the opportunity to be here in Nashua. With their refugee status come tremendous demands
and they rise to meet those demands. They quickly become employees, consumers, taxpayers and
contributing members of your communities. As a first generation American myself, | urge you all to think
about where your mother and father came from and where their mother and father came from.
Somebody made them feel welcome when they came and on behalf of my clients, | would like to thank
what Nashua does to make them feel welcome and urge you to adopt the original resolution.
Owise, 46 Whitney Street
| am still learning English and | am a refuge and | came here three months ago. | would like to thank
America and the American people for having us and giving us an opportunity to live as a human again
and | would like to support this resolution and thank everyone for giving me the chance to speak here.
Thank you very much.
Mr. Mohammad Mustak, 12 East Pearl Street, Apt. 3
Thank you for giving me this opportunity. | am originally from Birma. | am here as a refugee and I’ve
been living in Nashua for almost 4 % years. | would like to thank you on behalf of my community. We
have here around 85 in my community. We thank you for hosting us here. We also support the
resolution.
Mr. Mohammad Nurkarian, 33 % Amherst Street
My family and | have lived in Nashua for about 1 % years. | also support the Mayor’s resolution as a
Welcoming City, not to mention that | am also a student from Nashua High School North. Nashua is a
peaceful city with harmony. We immigrated here as refugees; my parents were born in Myanmar and me
and my little brother were in Malaysia. We were raised in Malaysia and stayed there for a long time so
we had an opportunity to come to America and find a peaceful place to live and that’s why we decided to
stay in Nashua. Also, thank you so much to the mayor, president and government for letting us stay in
Nashua.
